Hurricane Melissa has now killed some 49 people, although that figure is expected to rise as search and rescue operations continue across the trail of destruction the storm left in its wake in the northern Caribbean.

Authorities in Haiti on Thursday reported at least 30 deaths and 20 missing. The impoverished nation was not directly hit but suffered days of torrential rains from the lumbering storm. Jamaica has reported 19 deaths, according to the Reuters news agency. The Dominican Republic has reported one death before the hurricane made landfall elsewhere.

Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic storms on record, made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of up to 295 kilometres per hour (183 miles per hour). The hurricane did not hit the

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